LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Just a few blocks from the future site of Bill Clinton 's $160 million presidential library, a couple of Clinton haters hope to open a museum devoted to mocking his presidency.

"As long as he's talking, we'll have to be here trying to keep him somewhat honest and stop him from rewriting history," says John LeBoutillier, a former Republican congressman from New York who rode Ronald Reagan 's coattails to victory in 1980.

LeBoutillier and his partner, Houston businessman Richard Erickson, plan to call it the Counter-Clinton Library. They say the museum here and one planned for Washington will look at such topics as Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, the last-minute pardons, even damaged White House furniture.

"We already hear he's going to bring a bunch of egghead economists to his library to say how great the economy was when he was president," LeBoutillier says. "And we'll find our own who can say it had nothing to do with him."

The two partners hope to open their place the same day that Clinton's opens in November 2004. They say they will need $5 million. LeBoutillier says thousands of donations have come in and the average one is $72, but he will not say exactly how much has been raised so far.

Dick Morris, the Clinton strategist who resigned in a sex scandal, has pledged stacks of his insider documents, as has Gary Aldrich, the former FBI agent who wrote a best seller about Clinton's scandals.

"We think people will want to come out of the Clinton Library and head immediately down the street to us to get the rest of the story," LeBoutillier says.

In recent appearances, Clinton said that the big picture of his presidency is being obscured and that his library will set the record straight.

The designer of the Clinton museum, Ralph Appelbaum, said the place will deal with Clinton's impeachment, but will focus on how Clinton policies smoothed the political and technological transition into the 21st century and fostered unprecedented economic growth.

LeBoutillier  who once called the late House Speaker Tip O'Neill "fat, bloated and out of control, just like the federal budget"  says Clinton's library will require immediate rebuttal in a way that libraries of other scandalized ex-presidents do not.

"Reagan, Nixon, that's the past," he says. "The problem is Clinton's still young, he's the most powerful force in Democratic politics, and he would like nothing more than to erase the past so he can return to the White House with Hillary."

Skip Rutherford, president of the foundation paying for Clinton's library, says he had hoped for a political cease-fire.

"The haters don't have to like or agree with Clinton, but they need to acknowledge that only 43 men have done this  reached the pinnacle," he says. "I think they need to move on with their lives."

The exhibit will also include a full-scale replica of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room where visitors can pretend to engage spin control, plan diversions such as bombing aspiring factories, smear Monica and plan Lincoln bedroom fundraisers.

The exhibit space is 20,000 square feet on two levels. A 110-foot-long Timeline presents a substantive history of the day to day work of the President and his administration utilizing photographs, videos and interactive stations. In alcoves flanking the Timeline, a series of exhibits will highlight a range of domestic and foreign policy failures and exaggerations. Each story will be treated in depth and will include taxing the bejesus out of Americans, pandering to racist groups, illegal fundraising, unprecedented national security ineptitude, impeachment, and pardons for cash.

Geez, this is an unabashed, fanatical hit piece. The AP should never have run this pile of trash.

The article uses the derogative label "Clinton haters," as if the people opening the library have no valid facts, but are motivated only by hate. This term flavors the article, hoping to cause the reader to view Clinton opponents as shallow, spiteful people who only have personal scores to settle.

LeBoutillier is the Republican congressman "who rode Ronald Reagan's coattails to victory." Obviously, according to this piece of dung, he has never worked a day in his life.

Dick Morris was ousted "due to a sex scandal," yet Clinton's sex scandals are brushed under the rug. The other benefit is that, because he had "a sex scandal," Morris must not be a valuable source.

This is an excellent example of the bigotry prevalent at The AP. I highly encourage all freepers to call the editors and comment on how vile this trash is.

AP National Desk: 212-621-1600

:/ ttt

19
posted on 07/22/2003 1:20:32 PM PDT
by detsaoT
(Socialism Is Bankruptcy - just ask Kalifornia (or The City Of Evil!))

Well, I think the No Spin Library is fighting an uphill battle. All the conventions in Little Rock will visit the Scum Bag Library because of its advantages. The pornography section will be much larger and tax payer subsidized, there will be free condom machines all over the place, and the local black hookers will flock there, hoping to get lucky like Danny Williams momma did.

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